Robber shot and killed by bystander at 7-Eleven in Virginia Beach, police say

Pilotonline ^ | 25 July 2019 | Robyn Sidersky and Jane Harper

[csvset]

VIRGINIA BEACH

A bystander at a 7-Eleven on South Newtown Road early this morning shot two men robbing the convenience store, police said.

One of them is dead and the other was seriously injured. Both were wearing masks and carrying guns.

Another man police believe was involved was located a short distance from the store and has been taken into custody.

Police have not said whether they plan to charge the bystander. They said his gun was legal.

It happened just after 2 a.m. at the store located at 130 S. Newtown Road. Police believe the trio had robbed another 7-Eleven on Pacific Avenue around 12:30 a.m., taking cigarettes and smoking devices. Police believe they are responsible for other robberies as well, but didn't give details on those.

Before officers got to the scene on Newtown Road, a man who had been inside the store shot the suspects, police said.

Barrie Engel said she saw it happen.

Engel, who owns Coastal Cafe just a few minutes down the street, was giving a friend a ride home when he asked to stop for a Big Gulp. She requested nachos from her friend and they were about to pay at the register when the two men burst in, she said.

"I was standing right next to him at the counter when two gentlemen — armed, masked, robbers — came in the store with their guns up and told us to stay where we were, nobody move," she said.

"I did exactly that, I pretty much froze and looked at my friend and he looked at me, wondering, 'Is this really happening? Is this real?' " she said.

Then one of the masked men stayed near the door and the other went around the counter and started taking money out of the drawer and putting it in his pockets, she said.

"I was looking right at him and then I looked at the clerk, and the clerk raised his hands and said 'Come on man, don't do this.' And not sooner than he said that, I heard a gunshot and as soon as I heard the gunshot, I dropped down to the ground and put my hands over my head and started praying because I thought the guy shot the clerk," she said.

But it wasn't one of the two masked men who shot the gun. It was another man in the back of the store.

Engel didn't know that right away. She thought it was one of the robbers and thought they were "probably going to shoot everybody."

"I just started to pray and I feared for my life," she said. "After that shot it was like three shots, bam, then bam bam. It could have been two, two or three."

She and her friend looked at each other, and then she saw the man who came in behind them standing there. He said to her, "Nobody's gonna point a gun at me and get away with it," and she realized he was the one who shot the gun, she said.

She saw one of the masked men on the floor, dead, and the other behind the counter asking for help and was "shaking in my boots." Then police showed up.

Charges are pending against the man in custody, and the names of the man who died and the one injured have not been released by police.

Norfolk police believe the same men were involved in two other 7-Eleven robberies in their city early Thursday, said spokesman Daniel Hudson in an email.

At the first, around 1 am. at 3235 Chesapeake Blvd., the clerk told police three armed men entered the store and demanded money and the clerk complied. Then at 2 a.m. at 6667 E. Virginia Beach Blvd., two armed men entered the store and demanded money and the clerk there also complied, Hudson wrote. There were no injuries in either incident.

Engel said she's just thankful to get out of the 7-Eleven alive. Right afterward she called her son, a recent Kempsville High School graduate, and went and hugged him.

She said she had been considering getting a concealed carry permit, but thinks she would have been too nervous to use it.

She wants to know who saved them.

"Thank God for that guy because who knows what could have happened," she said. "I want to thank that guy personally. I want to buy him a steak dinner."

Virginia Beach police spokeswoman Tonya Pierce said she could only recall one other local incident where a bystander fired at someone committing a crime. In June 2017, a clerk at a 7-Eleven on Kellam Road shot a robber in the neck. Davin McClenney was left paralyzed by the incident. He pleaded guilty to that robbery and one other earlier this month.

The 7-Eleven clerk in that case was not charged

[MileHi]

Incapaciated will cost the public money.

It will. That wasn't his immediate concern though.

[BobL]

“If you carry, carry this, or an equivalent as well.”

I know someone who read the fine print - I think you have to be charged first to get their help...so if you are being investigated while they debate charges, you better have another lawyer for that.

[northislander]

Whenever a gentleman pulls out a pistol and demands your money everyone in the vicinity should pull out theirs and turn the gentleman into Swiss cheese...

[northislander]

If black people are trying to steal your money you should be able to refer to them as niggers....

[northislander]

If black people are trying to steal your money you should be able to refer to them as niggers....

[Carry me back]

The country won’t allow us to keep bad people in line. They were probably doing it because a black person was a slave 300 years ago.

[Hot Tabasco]

That may come back to haunt him.

Or not.........Most likely not

[Rurudyne]

It’s a pity none of those little shits will likely ever be caught and punished.

Also, I’m not advocating “holding” individuals engaging in crimes, trying to hold them would often be stupid.

If you’ve got a gun and you’re going to pull it ... even three people may be too many to try to hold if it’s just you. You pull a gun under such duress then you use the gun in self defense.

(If they run you let them run, too)

There is no try, only do, as Yoda said.

[HotHunt]

".... As long as the police don’t charge the guy, they’re doing their job, at least for this case...."

"As long as the police don't charge him".

That's key. That's all I was saying. You misunderstand what I said.

[Oatka]

But it wasn't one of the two masked men who shot the gun. It was another man in the back of the store.

Reminds me of this scene from "Taxi". Starts at :20. (Note foot on gun hand.)

[csvset]

I bet the cctv footage is something to see. Blur the shooter’s face and show the footage as a PSA.

Kids, armed robbery is a dead end .

[OldMissileer]

THAT, is a woman?!!!!

[csvset]

So they say.

Police: Customer shoots 7-Eleven robbery suspects, killing one

Video at the link. The other customer said one of the robbers had a BB gun. 😵

[Joe Boucher]

Correct
Shooter stated don’t point a gun at him
I whole heartedly agree
I have a CCW and go no where unarmed
And i don’t go where the state gub mint says i will be unarmed
I just pray i have the fortitude to take down. Perps like these under similar circumstances
Cept i hope to shoot straighter
Gotta go and practice more

[Joe Boucher]

Correct
Shooter stated don’t point a gun at him
I whole heartedly agree
I have a CCW and go no where unarmed
And i don’t go where the state gub mint says i will be unarmed
I just pray i have the fortitude to take down. Perps like these under similar circumstances
Cept i hope to shoot straighter
Gotta go and practice more

[MileHi]

I have a CCW and go no where unarmed

Neither do I, brother.

[rlmorel]

Sigh. Wish it were that way everywhere.

[rlmorel]

Hahahahaha...just a tad more accountability to the electorate!

[Magnum44]

“I know someone whose read the fine print”

Suggest you never make a life decision based on third party unverified info.

In almost every case in a self defense situation where you have discharged a fire arm, or used any weapon for that matter, you will be charged. That charge may be dropped or some prosecutors may try to press the charge even though it was self defense. In either case, for me, I never will have any conscious or unconscious hesitation about protecting myself or family or innocent person for fear of the half million or more dollar defense that would otherwise ruin a person financially just because I choose to be judged by 12 rather than carried by six. Of course you are free to choose differently. Just my unsolicited advice that I would give to anyone I cared about.

[csvset]

Va. Beach police charge two suspects believed to be involved in robbery spree

Left to Right: Deric Breon Simmons and Ronald Lee Brookins Jr. (Images: Virginia Beach City Jail)

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Police say two men believed to have been involved in a robbery spree that ended in a deadly shooting have been charged.

Virginia Beach police said in a news release Thursday three men were suspected of carrying out two robberies in the city and others that happened in other jurisdictions.

The robbery spree ended in the earlier morning hours of Thursday after a customer shot two of the suspects, killing one. The customer has not been charged, a police spokesperson said.

The suspect who was killed in the shooting was identified as 18-year-old Michael Moore.

The other two suspects are now faced with multiple charges.

Police said 19-year-old Deric Breon Simmons, of Chesapeake, is charged with two counts of robbery and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Ronald Lee Brookins Jr., 18 of Suffolk, is charged with two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, two counts of conspiracy to commit a felony, abduction and wearing a mask in public.